Hyundai Rotem aims to introduce fuel cell trams on Korean and other roads by 2027

[Photo provided by Hyundai Rotem Co.]

Under government backing, Hyundai Rotem, a locomotive arm of Hyundai Motor Group which is betting high on hydrogen economy, aims to introduce hydrogen-powered electric trams at home and abroad by 2027.

According to sources on Wednesday, Hyundai Rotem has been conducting a test run of a model hydrogen tram on a 235-meter-long test road within its Changwon plant since related regulations were lifted in October last year.

The company developed a concept car with two 95kW hydrogen fuel cells used in Hyundai’s hydrogen vehicle Nexo inside the tram and eight hydrogen tanks mounted on the roof. A test run was successful with hydrogen charged at about 61 percent of capacity.

Hyundai Rotem also developed a dedicated user interface to control and monitor the vehicle. In particular, the fuel cell performance was verified through a driving load test designed to test increase and decrease the speed between 5 and 30 km/h. A power generation function capable of operating from a minimum of 5 kW to a maximum of 100 kW of instantaneous output was also verified.

Behind this technology development was a regulatory sandbox system of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Under the current law, there were no separate regulations for the pressure vessel and fuel system of a hydrogen electric tram, so it was impossible to create a test platform. Since the tram is not a hydrogen car, it was impossible to refill it with hydrogen.

To address these regulatory challenges, a special deregulation review committee held in October last year granted approval of a hydrogen charging station in Changwon along with a test run of the tram.

After confirming the potential of the hydrogen tram in test runs, the government is pushing for a full-scale commercialization project. The ministry will invest 42.4 billion won ($36.1 million) in total by 2023 to carry out a demo project across the hydrogen tram infrastructure with a goal of commercializing a 380kW hydrogen tram. Hyundai Rotem plans to establish a full-scale mass production system from 2024 while exploring sales channels at home and abroad.

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